I'm new to the apple/mac world and in the last couple of months have got an iPad 2nd generation, iPhone 4 and most recently a new iMac 21.5 inch 2011 (MC812) as preferred to have built in optical drive. I previously had a Windows XP PC that is about 10 years old. I have copied all my files from my old PC to the new mac manually as was having trouble with Migration Assistant recognising my external Seagate HDD. I am now unsure what to do about accessing/working on old files from my PC (mainly MS Word and Excel 2002 version I think). Should I go for Parallels or Fusion or simply opt for MS Office for Mac? I am currently leaning towards Office as I don't really think I need a windows virtual machine on my mac, but am open to advice on this. One other option I am considering is Apple's iWork instead of Office as I believe that you can save files in Office format.

I currently have OS X Lion on my new mac and was also wondering whether it is worth upgrading to Mountain Lion. I have read a few threads saying that Bootcamp will not work with XP. Also, I should point out that I do not have the windows XP discs as my PC came with XP pre-installed.

Finally, I have a Lexmark X1290 Printer. Will this work with the mac?

Sorry, I know that there are a lot of questions in there but you help would be very much appreciated.